Python | time.mktime() method

time.mktime() method of Time module is used to convert a time.struct_time object or a tuple containing 9 elements corresponding to time.struct_time object to time in seconds passed since epoch in local time.

This method is the inverse function of time.localtime() which converts the time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a time.struct_time object in local time.

Following are the values present in time.struct_time object:

Index	Attribute	Values
0	tm_year	(for example, 1993)
1	tm_mon	range [1, 12]
2	tm_mday	range [1, 31]
3	tm_hour	range [0, 23]
4	tm_min	range [0, 59]
5	tm_sec	range [0, 61]
6	tm_wday	range [0, 6], Monday is 0
7	tm_yday	range [1, 366]
8	tm_isdst	0, 1 or -1
N/A	tm_zone	abbreviation of timezone name
N/A	tm_gmtoff	offset east of UTC in seconds

Note: The epoch is the point where the time starts and is platform dependent. On Windows and most Unix systems, the epoch is January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 (UTC) and leap seconds are not counted towards the time in seconds since the epoch. To check what the epoch is on a given platform we can use time.gmtime(0).

Syntax: time.mktime(t)

Parameter:
t : A time.struct_time object or a tuple containing 9 elements corresponding to time.struct_time object

Return type: This method returns a float value which represents the time expressed in seconds since the epoch.

Code #1: Use of time.mktime() method

# Python program to explain time.mktime() method

# importing time module
import time


# time.gmtime() method will returns
# a time.struct_time object in UTC
# for the time expressed in seconds
# since the epoch
seconds = 1000000
obj1 = time.gmtime(seconds)

# Print time.struct_time object (in UTC)
print(obj1)

# Convert the time.struct_time
# object to local time expressed in
# seconds since the epoch
# using time.mktime() method
time_sec = time.mktime(obj1)

# Print the local time in seconds
print("\nLocal time (in seconds):", time_sec)


# time.strptime() method parse
# a string representing a time
# according to the given format
# and returns a time.struct_time object

# Time string
t = "14 Sep 2019 10:50:00"

# Parse the time string using
# time.strptime() method
obj2 = time.strptime(t, "% d % b % Y % H:% M:% S")

# Convert the time.struct_time
# object to local time expressed in
# seconds since the epoch
# using time.mktime() method
time_sec = time.mktime(obj2)

# Print the local time in seconds
print("\nLocal time (in seconds):", time_sec)

Output:

time.struct_time(tm_year=1970, tm_mon=1, tm_mday=12, tm_hour=13, tm_min=46,
tm_sec=40, tm_wday=0, tm_yday=12, tm_isdst=0)

Local time (in seconds): 980200.0

Local time (in seconds): 1568438400.0

Code #2: If parameter is a tuple

# Python program to explain time.mktime() method

# importing time module
import time


# A tuple containing 9 elements
# corresponding to time.struct_time object
# for example: consider the below object
# time.struct_time(tm_year = 2019, tm_mon = 9, tm_mday = 13,
# tm_hour = 1, tm_min = 30, tm_sec = 26, tm_wday = 4,
# tm_yday = 256, tm_isdst = 0)

# Tuple corresponding to above
# time.struct_time object will be
tup = (2019, 9, 13, 1, 30, 26, 4, 256, 0)

# Convert the above specified tuple
# to local time expressed in seconds
# since the epoch
# using time.mktime() method
time_sec = time.mktime(tup)

# Print the time
print("Local Time (in seconds since the epoch):", time_sec)

Output:

Local Time (in seconds since the epoch): 1568318426.0

Code #3: To show time.mktime() method is inverse function of time.localtime() method

# Python program to explain time.mktime() method

# importing time module
import time

# Get the current time
# expressed in seconds
# since the epoch using
# time.time() method
curr_time = time.time()

# Print the value
# returned by time.time() method
print("Current time (in seconds since the epoch):", curr_time)


# Convert the time expressed in seconds
# since the epoch to
# a time.struct_time object
# in local time using
# time.localtime() method
obj = time.localtime(curr_time)

# Print the time.struct_time object
print("\ntime.struct_time object:")
print(obj, "\n")


# Convert the time.struct_time object
# back to the time expressed
# in seconds since the epoch
# in local time using
# time.mktime() method
time_sec = time.mktime(obj)

# Print the time
print("Time (in seconds since the epoch):", time_sec)

Output:

Current time (in seconds since the epoch): 1568318426.2286296

time.struct_time object:
time.struct_time(tm_year=2019, tm_mon=9, tm_mday=13, tm_hour=1, tm_min=30,
tm_sec=26, tm_wday=4, tm_yday=256, tm_isdst=0) 

Time (in seconds since the epoch): 1568318426.0

References: https://docs.python.org/3/library/time.html#time.mktime